Tattered Legacy (A Nora Abbott Mystery)

by Shannon Baker

  “It doesn’t matter now. All the pain, all the longing. It’s over and our reward is here.”

  “You’re as deranged as you were then. The difference is that I’m not afraid of you now.”

  “Afraid? You have never needed to be afraid. I love you, Abigail.” What a relief it was to say those words, so often resisted and never spoken out loud. He laughed like a young buck after his first kiss. “Do you hear that? I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

  Her revulsion was obvious. “What are you talking about?”

  Rachel’s eyes opened even wider. “You know each other?”

  Abigail’s nose turned up as though she smelled rotten garbage. “Knew. Briefly.”

  The warmth of the memory filled him, loosening the tightness cancer had clamped on him. “We never had the time together we should have. That’s my fault. I’m sorry I left you. But I felt God called me to a mission. Sometimes, the signs are clear and sometimes they seem murky. Now that we’re together again, I know that road, no matter how hard and lonely, was the right one.”

  Abigail pulled herself up. “Go away.”

  He loved her fire. He loved the bright flash of her eyes. Everything about her stirred him in a way Christine never had. “I don’t understand why you’re so resistant. This is our chance, after all these years, to grab our small piece of happiness. Is it because you’re married?”

  She advanced on him, dropping her arm from Rachel. “It’s because you raped me and you killed my husband!”

  The words sat between them for several seconds. She didn’t pry her eyes from his face while he studied her and tried to find a response.

  “I could never hurt you. Never. How can you call what we had together rape?”

  He watched the struggle for composure play across her face. Her eyes filled with tears and her voice sounded like sandpaper on rough wood. “I trusted you. I let you into our home. And you forced yourself on me.”

  Warren shook his head. “No. No. That’s not the way it was. We loved each other. I know you felt it, too.”

  She spit at him like a feral cat. “I only felt sorry for a kid who seemed so lost and eager to know about Hopi.”

  She must have justified her infidelity over the years. Thirty years of convincing herself she’d never loved him might have turned her heart. She’d remember. “Isn’t there something you need to tell me?”

  “The only thing I need to tell you is to leave us alone!”

  “What about our daughter?” Saying it filled him with a pounding strength.

  She paled. “What?”

  “Nora. The evidence of our love.”

  A flush of fury rose quickly to her face. “Nora is not your daughter. She’s Dan’s.”

  “There’s no way God would allow Dan to be her father. He needs me to have an heir. Someone to lead the faithful.”

  Rachel watched the exchange of words with her mouth open in shock.

  Why did Abigail fight against him?

  She set her face in hard lines. “I have proof she’s Dan’s daughter. Something a Hopi-lover like you will appreciate.”

  His confidence never wavered. “You can’t prove what isn’t true.”

  “I know she’s Dan’s daughter because she’s had Hopi signs and visitations.”

  He knew God had chosen him and his heirs for glory. “Tell me. What do you mean, visitations?”

  She waved her hand in the air. “She won’t tell me everything. I’ve had to piece it together from conversations between her and her cousin. Her real cousin. Benny Sepakuku, from the Hopi reservation.” She pointed at him. “An old chief that talks to her. I know it’s true because Benny knows everyone and everything and he is her Hopi spiritual guide because they’re related.”

  If God had revealed all of this to him when he was younger, he might not have understood the great gift he’d received. His childhood of disgrace and rejection all made sense now. The sad pieces of his journey fit together to create a life lived for God. Now, he had an heir to complete the task.

  He smiled. “You never knew about my family.”

  She folded her arms. “I read the ‘Man of the Year’ article about you. You were raised on a farm in southern Utah by hard-working Americans. You lived the American Dream, rose from poverty, made a fortune, and now you just want to protect America for future generations, blah, blah, blah.”

  He wished he could draw her inside his mind to share his memories so that she could know his heart. “It’s true. I was raised in southern Utah by hard workers. It’s just that four of those hard workers were my mothers and one was my father. My biological mother wasn’t a favored wife, though. And I wasn’t like the rest of my siblings. When I got old enough to be interested in girls or maybe just because he didn’t like me, my father sent me away. I was fourteen and my mother came with me. She couldn’t get a job so I supported us. And then I made a fortune.”

  Abigail pretended to be bored. “Good for you. Now go.”

  Hope surged through him as he went on. “Here’s why I know Nora is my daughter. The reason my mother was least favorite and the reason I was so different is that she wasn’t born and raised a good Mormon girl. She grew up on the reservation, a full-blooded Hopi.”

  He’d succeeded in shocking Abigail. Her eyes widened. “If you’re Hopi, why did you need Dan to tell you about the history and prophesies?”

  He itched to take her hand, to set his lips lightly against hers. “The people on the mesas happily welcomed me. They invited me to several ceremonies. But they wouldn’t trust me enough to tell me what I needed to know. It would have taken me decades to learn.”

  “What did you need to know so badly?”

  Such relief to tell her. “It’s the signs. I first saw them on the ranch. My father drove me away, but he didn’t know God put me there to see the signs.”

  “Your Mormon God? How does that mesh with Hopi?”

  “You’re like the others. You think religions are mutually exclusive. But it’s all one. God showed me that. I needed Dan to teach me about the Sky People.”

  She laughed in a cruel way he didn’t remember from her youth. “You’re absolutely insane. Completely fruit loops.”

  “All great leaders were considered crazy. Many thought Jesus was a lunatic.”

  She smirked at him. “What are these Sky People going to do?”

  Her skepticism bit at him. “They’re coming for the faithful. We’ll be taken away and given planets of our own. This is written in the Book of Mormon as well. It all fits together.”

  “And you’re the chosen one?”

  Instead of the sorrow and frustration, a surge of joy lifted him. “God has provided an heir.”

  “She’s not your heir, but even if she were, she’s a woman. You can’t believe your God would hand over the keys to a female.”

  “It’s God’s plan. Maybe she’ll give birth to a great leader.”

  Abigail’s eyebrows drew down in concern.

  Warren spun around. He scanned the porch and didn’t see anything. “Where’s Rachel?”

  Abigail widened her eyes in feigned innocence. “I didn’t notice she’d gone.”

  Warren strode across the porch and into the house.

  Abigail ran after him. “Leave her alone!”

  Rachel stood in the kitchen with a phone to her ear. When she saw him, she set it down.

  Warren’s heart jumped to his throat. “Who was that? What did you say? Did you tell him?”

  Rachel didn’t answer.

  Warren couldn’t waste time. He rushed across the room and grabbed Abigail by the arms. “Where is she? Where’s Nora?”

  Abigail clamped her mouth closed and glared at him.

  He shook her and a strand of hair stuck to the corner of her mouth. Her eyes glittered with fear but she still didn’t speak. “T
ell me!”

  Tears threatened and her lips quivered but stayed locked.

  “Rachel just told my nephew about Nora. He expects to be the leader. Now that he knows I have a true heir, he’ll kill her!”

  thirty

  Nora woke, disoriented. It took several moments of that frantic, lost feeling to place the rickety furniture in the dim light of Benny’s bedroom. Abbey stretched and wagged his tail. It only took Nora a few seconds to lace up her boots and shoot from the bedroom.

  Benny stood at the front door gazing into the plaza. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Where?”

  “I have something to show you.”

  They walked into the quiet village in the blinding sunshine of early afternoon. Across the plaza a woman stepped from a door, probably from a home similar to Benny’s. She didn’t wave and offer a hello as you might expect in suburban America. Hopi respected each other and seemed to have genuine affection for their neighbors, but they didn’t jump into each other’s lives. Nora had been surprised to learn they didn’t have a word for hello.

  Late morning sun blazed in the plaza, bringing out the red of the adobe buildings. Dust settled across the stone surface. The doors of the other dwellings remained closed against the gathering heat of the day.

  She followed Benny around the edge of the plaza and through winding alleys to his aging pickup. Rust covered it so completely that it reminded Nora of tie-dye. She held the door open for Abbey and he hefted himself onto the floor, then up to the bench seat to sit and eagerly stare out the windshield. Nora and Benny climbed inside and he coaxed the engine into a rough rattle.

  At the speed of a dozing snail, they made their way down the steep switchbacks of the mesa and bottomed out onto the highway. Benny didn’t speak so Nora spent the ten-minute drive following wormholes in her brain.

  After five miles, Benny pulled off the highway onto an obscure two-track trail heading across the desert. Another six or seven miles north of the highway, they bumped down a steep arroyo and Benny followed the dry creek bed, winding around stones and the sandy banks.

  After a time he idled to a stop and cut the engine. He climbed out and Nora followed.

  “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

  “I told you about the prophesies given to us by the one who brought us here.”

  “Yes.” Ever logical, Nora felt uncomfortable with thousand-year-old prophesies that foretold the coming of the white men, the political splits of the tribe, the decline of Hopi. They warned about taking things from the moon and had even described the atom bomb.

  He gave her one of his rare smiles. “And we talked about the instructions.”

  She matched his steady pace as he climbed from the creek bed and hiked toward a stand of three rocks that stood like eight-foot-high sentinels. “Live simply. Take no more than you need. Plant seeds. Recognize the creator is within us.”

  Benny kept walking without looking at her. “Are you living according to the instructions?”

  Guilt bit at her. “I could do better.”

  “Hopi need to immerse ourselves in Mother Earth and blend with her to celebrate life. As we join together, a new attitude will take hold and the world will be gently transformed.”

  Nora thought about that while they trudged along. “I think what you’re saying is that I’m focusing on what I want to happen, like having the kachina come to me, instead of focusing on what I should do for the world.”

  He chuckled. “Always looking for the answers.”

  Benny made it to the rock formation and rounded a corner to stand in the enclosure created by them. He gazed up the smooth surface of the towering rock.

  Nora followed his line of sight. Before her, a series of images etched in the stone told a story. Of course, it was in a language she couldn’t understand. She recognized the Hopi maiden in the space ship and the weird sunburst symbol. She turned to Benny. “Do you know what it means?”

  He shrugged. “No.”

  She gave him an exasperated glare.

  That little grin slipped onto his face. “I can tell you what I think.”

  “Please do.”

  He picked up a stick and pointed at a long, diagonal line that ran from the bottom left corner to the top right corner of the scene. “This is the journey of Hopi.” He sketched along vertical lines. “These three that intersect show where the people have made choices, some for good and some not so good. These three circles are world wars. You see, this last one is on the other side of the third decision.”

  “Does that mean if the people make a good decision we won’t have another war?”

  “Maybe.”

  Gotta love those definitive messages.

  “This maiden, who represents the Sky People.” Benny pointed to the image. “You see she is next to the symbol that interests you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And it all sits above the third decision and the circle of war.”

  “But what does it mean?”

  “The Sky People have been visiting the Hopi for many years. Our elders know of them. Many of them have gone with the Sky People.”

  “Gone with them?”

  “The prophesies tell us that Sky People will come gather the true Hopi at the end of the Fourth World and take them to the other planets.”

  “You never told me anything about Sky People.”

  “Hopi is an old tribe. There is much you don’t know. This symbol,” he outlined the image. “It is a sign for the Sky People. It tells them where they are welcome.”

  Nora’s phone vibrated in her shorts pocket. She hadn’t been aware she carried it on her. Habit. She pulled it out, not recognizing the number. “How is it there’s a signal this far out?”

  Benny’s eyes twinkled. “How many times have I told you that Hopi is the center of the world?”

  She rolled her eyes and answered her phone.

  Darrell’s words tumbled out. “He’s got your mother.”

  “What?” Alarms jangled through her. “Who? Where?”

  He was breathless. “Warren Evans. I came out to the cabin and she was gone. Rachel said Warren took her.”

  “Oh, God.” Panic shot through her veins. “I’m calling the cops.”

  “No!”

  “Why not?”

  “No telling what Warren will do.” He paused. “I’m sorry. I heard Abigail tell you about him last night. He might want to shut Abigail up. Or maybe he wants to claim you’re his daughter.”

  “But he doesn’t know for sure.”

  Darrell hesitated. “He thinks he knows. He came out here and confronted Abigail. Rachel isn’t your friend. She found out about Abigail and Warren and went straight to Lee.”

  Nora struggled to restart her brain. “Why would she go to Lee?”

  Darrell hesitated. “They’re in it together.”

  “Wait. I don’t understand. In what together?”

  “Lee is set to inherit Warren’s estate. Warren’s tried to keep it secret, but he’s dying. If Warren thinks you’re his heir and decides to leave his wealth to you, Lee is cut out.”

  She turned from the rocks. “I’m coming to Moab. I’ve got to find Abigail.”

  “Where are you?”

  Her heart thundered in her chest. “I’m at the rez.”

  “Stay there and let me handle it. Lee is dangerous.”

  Nora was already running to Benny’s pickup. “I’m coming.”

  Darrell sighed as if resigning himself. “Rachel is somewhere with Lee, so meet me at the cabin and we can go after Abigail together.”

  thirty-one

  Dark clouds, heavy with rain, blocked the sun. Thunder rumbled and occasionally cracked. A few drops, fat as bumblebees, splatted on her windshield. She slapped on her wipers and sped down the highway. She’d been driving for hours acr
oss empty Navajo land.

  What kind of danger was Abigail in? Nora had to find her and get her back to Flagstaff. She’d hand Abigail over to Charlie and make him promise to never let her mother out of his sight.

  Abbey resettled himself in the passenger seat, yawned, and closed his eyes again. He obviously didn’t feel empathy with her anxiety.

  The raven cawed. She checked the phone’s caller ID. Cole. A dose of his calm would do her good. But he was married. “Don’t answer,” she instructed Abbey.

  Her phone squawked again and she punched it on.

  “It’s over.” Cole sounded jubilant—definitely not his usual tone.

  “Huh?” She’d thought those words might refer to his father, but Cole sounded happy.

  “It all worked out as I’d hoped and my marriage has been annulled. When are you coming home so we can celebrate?”

  Pop, pop, pop, swish. Pop, pop, pop, swish. The rain and wipers filled the silence.

  “I don’t understand,” she finally said.

  “Sorry. Here’s what happened. When I was eighteen, I thought I was in love with Amber. She was sixteen. We ran off and got married. But, of course, we headed home after a couple of days and she went back to her parents and I went to college and I figured since she was under age it wasn’t a legal thing anyway. Years later, she and my brother got married.”

  “Your girlfriend married your brother?”

  He paused. “Yeah. It caused some bad blood. Still does, I guess. I thought we’d gotten past that.”

  “How did it end up you were still married?”

  “It was a real mess. Derek divorced Amber last year. He didn’t have much, since the ranch is in my father’s name. So Amber makes her living waitressing in Sheridan.” She pictured his frown. “But when Dad had his stroke and it looked like he might not make it, Amber figured she could get a piece of that inheritance.”

  “How is your father?”

  Cole rushed on. “He’s starting to talk again. He’s confused, but I think he’s coming back.”

  Nora welcomed that good news. “That’s great. So what happened with Amber?”

  “She dragged out this license. It looks legal since her parents’ signature is on it, but I know she forged it.”